Do you remember Larry Lujack .. Uncle Lar on WLS. He was later in the 60's and early 70's, I think. I once won a call in contest and had to drive into downtown Chicago to pick up my prize from him. It was a boom box.
In 1957 I was seven and made my first communion and got this as a present. A transistor radio. I think it cost eight dollars. That was very expensive back then. Like about $50 today.
I have all sorts of mixed feelings. My parents both worked. I suffered the absence of my mom at a tender age since she worked nights when I came home from school, she was gone. I would have rather had the mom than the radio. Anyway, I digress. She bought me and my brother everything since they had money. So, I had this nifty mint green radio and my friends who had a mom who did not work, did not get one and I felt guilty in a way. They wanted one just as badly as I wanted one. I was perceived as spoiled but I was more lonely than spoiled.
Both my parents worked too. My Mom first shift .. my Dad second. I always wanted her home .. but she just wasn't a stay at home mom at all. I remember most of my friends having transistor radios and we were all just middle class. Most of their Moms didn't work outside the home. It doesn't sound like you were spoiled ... but that's pretty subjective. My sister and I were alone a lot because my parents went out and partied at night ... that was often lonely.
I remember my family's 1966 Olds F-85 having an AM-only radio, and that my father made a big deal of getting an AM-FM radio on our next car, a 1969 Olds Cutlass. That also happened to be our first car with air conditioning. I also recall having an AM-only transistor radio.
This post was edited by Stu Spelling Bee at March 16, 2019 1:25 PM MDT
My buddy and I would ride around on our 10-speed bicycles back in 1966. He would hold his 9 volt transistor radio up to his ear and sing along to the 'Lovin Spoonful' or 'The Rascals'. The first time I ever heard FM was at least 1974, when a girlfriend explained it to me. I have always been behind the times, that way I am always nostalgic.
I remember radios not having the choice of AM/FM. I was very young and don't know if that was because FM didn't exist or the radio were just cheap ones.
Benedict Arnold 